


The Castle of Spun Bridges

by Trobadora



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Fantasy Politics, Interspecies Romance, Soulmates, keeping secrets, sex with magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-16 21:22:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7285222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trobadora/pseuds/Trobadora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Humans had no soulmates; therefore a Human couldn't be anyone's soulmate. That was plainly obvious.</i> - Queen Kalandra doesn't quite know what to do with her Human lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Castle of Spun Bridges

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reeby10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/gifts).



**~~ NOW ~~**

Queen Kalandra rose silently from the bed, taking care not to let the mattress rustle, nor make the woven mats on the floor crunch beneath her feet. She snatched a silken scarf from its hook on the wall, wrapped it around her shoulders and went to stand by the wide-open window, looking out over the moons-lit palace's many slender towers connected by rope-bridges, spindly structures not made to carry the weight of more than a few Araxa. Some had been woven by and still were imbued with the magic of queens and kings long dead, designed to make sure heavy-boned Marr with their stonelike flesh could not walk them safely.

Not that there had been armed conflict with any Marr nation in Kalandra's lifetime; the war that had impressed itself on her generation - brief though it had been - was the one with the Humans. It was merely luck that the castle's bridges could not carry Humans in numbers, either, though it had never come to that. But a single Human could cross without problem, and that was serendipitous, given who was asleep in the Queen's very private chamber right now.

Like many rooms in the castle, the Queen's chambers were not accessible from the ground.

 _Humans._ Kalandra suppressed a sigh and turned back toward the room, which seemed darker now that she'd been looking into moonlight. The bed was in shadow, and the woman on it a shadow among shadows, deep asleep.

Good. She mustn't know what kept Kalandra awake this night, and many nights before this. After all, she was Human. Which was exactly the problem.

~*~

**~~ THEN ~~**

The Queen's Guard - Weavers and Warriors alike - were on high alert that night. The war was long over, and the Humans present were far from a threat, but there were enough people who didn't approve of tonight's ceremony, and besides, any gathering that included Araxa, Marr, and Humans alike was always a volatile mixture.

Kalandra was accustomed to the Marr, though the stone-dwellers had been enemies once, too. But the Humans' incursion into their world was something else entirely. Their projectile weapons had for the first time in written history given Araxa and Marr unquestionable common ground in a common enemy.

But the Humans had been defeated - far easier than it had seemed at first, but unsurprisingly, once they'd learned the Humans were not invading by intent, but fleeing the destruction of their own world. Kalandra had almost wished she could simply throw them back into the Void they had run from, and the local Marr-king - whose fealty to Kalandra the Human incursion had cemented - had suggested it in furious earnest.

But opening their realm to that destructive force was far too dangerous for even the most vindictive person to consider. Besides, the Humans had surrendered, bending their knee to the Araxa Queen.

For the last two years, the Humans had settled in, trading their knowledge and their work for a place to live. Less than two hundred of them, and still too many.

Nothing had gone wrong. Yet.

Tonight, for the first time, a Human would be sworn in as a knight, and though she was the one who'd decided, Kalandra still wasn't sure how she felt about it.

On the highest tower, the large gong was struck - once, twice, thrice. The Weavers, standing on the rope-bridges between the towers surrounding the courtyard, wove their circle around the assembly, spiderweb-fine thread sealing a magical boundary.

Kalandra rose, and her councillors did likewise from the lower seats. She lifted her hand to her lips, then blew the lingering sensation of touch into the bounded space, invisible threads coursing through the air, ready to carry her voice. "The space is bound. The court is present. The Queen hears you."

A Marr girl stepped forward, her marbled face craggy with concentration and eyes shining with pride that she'd been selected. "Witness the Queen," she said, her voice gravelly and carrying well, and she bowed as deeply before the Queen as her stocky build allowed. The entire assembly followed her example, with the sole exception of the Weavers guarding the circle.

There were only a handful of Humans present, but they were ones who'd been at court for years now, and they had lost most of their awkwardness with court protocol.

She bade them rise, and with a subtle gesture, cued the proceedings to begin. Then she stepped down from the dais to meet the first of the knights-to-be.

There were five: three Araxa, one Marr - and one Human. 

One after another, the new knights made their oaths. One after another, the Queen laid a blessing hand on theirs as they lifted them in supplication. One after another, she bound them with her Web.

And then, last of all, it was the Human's turn.

The Human was well prepared; she'd been taught the ceremony with meticulous care. She was tall and slender for her kind, though still bulky to Araxa eyes, an accomplished warrior who'd proved herself against the bandits of the Western salts as well as in the tournaments of the land. Her elevation was only partially political, and well-earned enough.

"My name is Tia-rono," the Human said, and then recited the words of the oath, from "Faithfully I swear" on without stumbling, all the way to the final phrases of, "Your threads shall guide me, your web shall bind me, and never shall I tear anything you wove."

Words heavy with history, with ancient meaning, for Araxa and Marr alike; likely a meaningless alien custom to the Human. But the woman would be bound by it all the same. 

Kalandra knew of the woman's accomplishments, but little of her person. Tia-rono had never been anything but respectful, and as deferential as Humans got. Her name sat strangely on the tongue, double-barrelled as Human names all were, and would sit more strangely with a knight's title. Kalandra almost wanted to simply call her _Tiarona_ \- that, at least, would sound more like an Araxa name.

She laid her fingers against Tia-rono's palms. The Human's hands, to the touch, were softer than a Marr's, less slim and bony than an Araxa's.

And then it went through Kalandra like a spike of lightning, when you courted it in a thunderstorm and it rewarded you at last, its power coursing through your body, charging every cell with its magic. The Queen's fingers froze in their blessing, and her eyes widened as she recognised what she was feeling.

_Match. Soulmate. Mine._

The Human felt nothing, of course. She remained still, oblivious, as Kalandra made herself continue the ceremony, sinking the Knight's Web into Tia-rono's skin. She looked up at the Queen, oblivious and untouched.

~*~

**~~ NOW ~~**

"Kalandra?"

The sleepy question jerked the Queen out of her memories, and Tia - not Tia-rono as she'd still thought of it then; Rono was a separate name, the name of a family now lost to the Void - slowly sat up on the bed.

It was silly to make Tia's name sound more Araxa, Kalandra thought, seeking refuge in trivialities. Tia _wasn't_ Araxa, and there was no sense in pretending otherwise. Unusual names were the least of Kalandra's - or anyone's - problems.

 _Soulmate._ It had been absurd then; it was still absurd now that Tia was lying in the Queen's bed. Still unknowing.

Humans - she'd known that even then - had no soulmates; therefore a human couldn't be anyone's soulmate. That was plainly obvious. More importantly, soulmates had compatible magic, and Humans had none at all.

Kalandra sighed. Finding a soulmate, someone meant for you, tied to you by the threads of fate - that was supposed to be lucky. Some had even found more than one; the greatest sign of a favourable fate. But this seemed more akin to a curse.

At any rate, even if there was luck in it, Kalandra could not publicly claim it. A human _knight_ was controversial enough. A soulmate? Unthinkable, still.

Kalandra pushed the thoughts aside, forcefully. She had been going around in circles on the topic for years now; there was no point in it, none at all.

"You're having trouble sleeping," Tia said softly, coming to stand at the window beside Kalandra. The moonlight cast a bluish hue over her bare dark skin, and Kalandra took a moment to admire her Human curves, the flesh of her body under her skin. Strange, and strangely erotic, like a ripe fruit.

"And you don't," Kalandra returned, a little waspishly. 

"Honestly," Tia admitted wryly, leaning comfortably against the window frame, the moons highlighting her full breasts, "if I didn't have that ability for falling asleep just about anywhere, I'd have gone out of my mind years ago."

And no surprise that would be, considering Tia's past. Kalandra pushed down the discomfort. Tia had lost everything; five years ago, her whole world had vanished. What were Kalandra's worries, compared to that? And yet it was the Queen who was losing sleep.

Tia's dark eyes missed nothing. "What's on your mind?"

Kalandra suppressed a flinch and cast about for something to say. She clenched her fingers, so she wouldn't fiddle with the ends of her braids. "Do you ever wonder if you did the right thing, getting involved with me?"

Tia blinked, and ran a hand over her shaven head. "Do you?"

What a question. "Don't deflect," Kalandra said, because she could. But of course she was the one who was deflecting.

Tia made a face. "I don't know that there is a right thing, when it comes to this."

 _Don't make it easy for me, Tia,_ Kalandra thought, petulantly. She wasn't being fair; she knew it.

"Three years ago we were all in a very different place," Tia continued. "I wanted ..." She looked away.

"Yes?" The Queen leaned forward, examining Tia's face. She had never asked this before - had never quite wanted to. After all, she'd had reasons to seduce the Human, but the Human had known nothing of that. 

Tia scratched her scalp just behind her right ear. "I wanted to forget about Earth," she said softly. "Sleeping with your boss wasn't exactly the thing to do, there, you know." She chewed on her lower lip; given how fleshy Human lips were, it was startlingly erotic. "But it's all obsolete, isn't it? Everything I knew there." Tia shrugged. "I wanted to fit in here, because _here_ is all I have."

Kalandra closed her eyes for a moment. Had Tia even wanted _her_? Did she now? How could she ever know? "And I wanted ..." Damn, she hadn't meant to say anything. She broke off, just as Tia had, unwilling to complete her sentence.

Tia snorted a bleak laugh at the parallel.

"What?" Kalandra snapped, defensively, then tilted her head in curiosity. "I never did ask - what did you think I wanted, Lady Knight?"

Tia didn't - wouldn't - meet her eyes. "Don't ask me that, my Queen," she said, face turned toward the dark bedroom floor.

Kalandra's eyebrows climbed. "I insist."

She watched as Tia realised she couldn't avoid an answer, and slowly made herself raise her face towards Kalandra's, her expression tight. "You wanted something exotic in your bedroom."

Kalandra didn't flinch. After all, that was the obvious answer, the one everyone assumed. She knew that well enough. It was the only answer anyone had, since Kalandra wasn't telling the truth.

And why not, anyway? Wasn't that reason enough?

The Queen ran her hand along Tia's forearm. "And I got that, didn't I?" It came out more sharply than she'd wanted.

She could have had a soulmate, but she'd refused that possibility - for too many good reasons, yes, but it was still her choice, her doing.

Tia closed a hand over Kalandra's, stilling her. "It's been three years, Kalandra. If you have regrets, all you have to do is say so." She managed a smile despite the words, her body still, her face controlled. "You're the Queen. If you want me gone, I'm gone. You know that."

"I don't want you gone!" It came out so indignant, there was no way Tia could possibly question her sincerity. Or so Kalandra hoped.

Tia's eyes were on her for a long, charged moment, hard and wary; then she smirked. "Not getting tired of me after all?" she asked, her tone making a joke of it as she lifted Kalandra's hand to her lips, pressing soft flesh against skin stretched over sinew and bones. "Not looking for something more exotic yet?"

"I could go and seduce some of the Human warriors," Kalandra suggested lightly, trying to match Tia's tone. "Or one of the workers or scholars might be more exotic, in their way. What do you think?" She leaned forward, baring her teeth and turning her hand in Tia's grasp to grip her chin tightly. "Don't be silly. I want _you_."

Which was true enough - but just _how_ did she want Tia? After three years, she still couldn't seem to decide. Like this, unknowing, the jolt Kalandra got from the touch of her soulmate's skin an illicit thrill? Or openly, knowingly, with all that meant, a connection in truth? Well, a one-sided one. 

Perhaps, Kalandra admitted to herself, she was simply too afraid to give Tia that kind of power over her. Unfair as that was, considering Tia's oath of loyalty.

But that all was beside the point. Could she afford to want differently, even if she dared?

Pushing the thoughts aside, she bit a kiss onto Tia's lips, sharp teeth against delicate Human skin. It was the most delicate part of the otherwise sturdy Humans, and Kalandra loved playing with Tia's skin like this. So easy to raise marks - so difficult to make sure the marks would fade quickly.

Another benefit of admitting the truth - she would be able to show them off. Because sex might be a casual thing, but marks _meant_ something.

Furious with herself, Kalandra nudged Tia just under her breasts, and again, until the back of her knees collided with the bed. A quick shove, and Tia, unresisting, fell back onto the sheets. Kalandra raised a hand, spun a thread towards the lamp hanging on the wall, igniting the oil. She wanted to see.

Under the dim gleam of the lamp, Kalandra straddled Tia's legs and ran her hands over Tia's body, squeezing the soft flesh, lightly scratching fingernails over sensitive spots. Skin on skin, the reaction was instantaneous and unmistakeable. But she was the only one who felt it. _Humans have no soulmates, after all._

Then she looked up, a wicked gleam in her eyes, as she blew a breath over Tia's belly, highlighting the Knight's Web Kalandra had sunk into Tia's skin when she had accepted Tia's oath. It was easily broken, this one, requiring no magic, though the breaking would mark her as the Web burned. 

Kalandra had thought about spinning another one, often - one Tia could never think to break, having no magic of her own. She never had.

Kalandra leaned forward, mouthing one of the threads of the Knight's Web. Then she blew just a little magic on it, and watched it spark along the threads, over the woman's skin. Watched her shiver and moan and arch under it.

It wouldn't have been the same with one of her own kind. The thought came suddenly, unbidden. It wouldn't have been the same at all, with someone whose own magic could match hers. Tia, Human that she was, was helpless against the stirring of the magic. Tia could only take the sting and the pleasure, couldn't refuse it, couldn't return it. 

And that ... that felt _good_. 

"I'm so glad you're Araxa," Tia gasped. "This is - God, yes." 

Kalandra startled at the echo of her own thoughts, though it wasn't as if neither of them hadn't felt that way before. Yes, indeed. She shifted so that she was straddling the firm flesh of Tia's thigh, rocking down against it even as she took Tia's breast into her mouth, the soft fullness an inexplicable thrill.

She gasped with the pleasure of it, and her first orgasm came like that, riding Tia's thick, sturdy thigh, listening to her moans, feeling her shiver under her.

Then she curled up on top of Tia's body, sinew and bones against the softness of Human flesh, and pressed her mouth to Tia's. Lips on lips, hands on skin, bodies against each other - so good, and yet. 

And yet, Tia felt nothing of the recognition that flashed through Kalandra's body. Even if she'd known - Tia couldn't share it. Tia never would.

Forcing the thought aside, Kalandra pushed two long fingers between Tia's thighs. Soft and hot and wet around her. Kalandra's fingers went inside easily, and then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth. All six fingers, her whole hand, far narrower than a Human's, though the fingers were longer. 

"God, this is so -" Tia's hips surged up against her in frantic rhythm, seeking satisfaction. " _Yes_ ," she hissed.

Kalandra smirked, and slowed down.

"Please," Tia moaned, her dark eyes wild and hungry, her wet flesh gripping at Kalandra's hand, clenching with desperate force. 

"Please what?" Kalandra asked sweetly. 

"Do it." Tia's voice was hoarse. "Spin your threads. God, I need -" She broke off, words turning into a wordless, needy whine.

"Ask me again."

"God. Please, my Queen," Tia begged. "Please, please, please, please ..."

And then, finally, Kalandra granted her plea. From her fingertips, the threads of her magic spun out, touching every nerve ending inside Tia, tying them all together, bundling every sensation and sending it through her in a powerful jolt that exploded out through her clit. Tia screamed, and her body arched off the sheets, the lines of her body taut and sharp even with her Human shape, and Kalandra wasn't sure if it was from that or from the backlash of her magic that she came for the second time.

~*~

"I noticed, you know," Tia said suddenly, sounding much too awake.

Kalandra was curled around Tia's back, her nose against Tia's neck. She'd been half asleep already. "Mm?" she asked, hoping Tia would take the nonverbal reply for a hint.

No such luck. "You never said what woke you, earlier," Tia said. 

"So?" Kalandra mumbled into Tia's skin.

"So, nothing." Tia sighed, and wiggled her arse, pushing deeper into Kalandra's embrace. "You're the Queen. I can't demand answers. I know that. I don't have the right."

 _You're my soulmate,_ Kalandra thought. _If anyone has the right, it's you._ But what she said was, "So?", again, very pointedly.

Tia was silent for a long moment. "I just ..." She sighed. "Don't pretend. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But you don't have to pretend there's nothing. Please." A brief hesitation, as if she were debating adding something more, then, "That's all, really."

"I don't _have_ to do anything," Kalandra said, deliberately misunderstanding. Damn it, she was wide awake again now. But what could she possibly say to Tia? She knew this wasn't right; she'd always known. She just had never been able to bring herself to do differently. She yawned, faking a sleepiness she no longer felt. "Go to sleep now."

"As my Queen commands." Despite the sarcasm, Tia snuggled deeper into the blankets and said nothing more. And only moments later, with that talent of hers, just as commanded, she was asleep.

Kalandra lay awake for a long time, arms wrapped around her lover, a leg thrown over her hips, Tia's arse pressed against just the right spot - and yet the distance between them remained, unbridged.

For a people famous for spinning bridges, she was doing pretty badly. _You're Araxa,_ Kalandra told herself. _You can do better._ If she wanted. 

If she could ever make herself decide.

She clenched her eyes tightly, willing the thoughts away. Failing.

~*~

In the first hour of the morning, as the sky lightened and the sun began to creep over the horizon, Kalandra poked a bony finger into Tia's ribs until the Human was awake. She clamped a hand over Tia's mouth, forestalling her questions.

"What do you know about soulmates?" Queen Kalandra asked.


End file.
